You may be surprised by a kiwi fruit costing 1000 yen. It is generally 100 yen or so at supermarkets, and yet this kiwi fruit sells for 1000 yen. It is Kiwi Bird from the farm run by Shimada.
Their kiwi fruits look entirely different from ordinary ones. It is about 1.5 times as large as Hayward, the dominant variety, and has a much higher intensity of sweetness.
Kiwi Bird is the Koryoku variety which was created by accident when a plant was raised from seed on an experimental farm in Kagawa. It was a chance seedling due to unintentional breeding.
Kiwi Bird is a product of chance, not cross breeding for breed improvement. There are other well known examples of chance seedling such as Nijisseiki pears and Kogyoku apples.
Carefully growing trees and keeping records
The sugar content of Koryoku is 14 to 15, which means the fruit is very sweet, compared with Hayward with a value of around 11. Shimada conducted research at the kiwi fields day and night to further increase the sugar content. His efforts resulted in Koryoku with the extremely high sugar content of 18. That is Kiwi Bird.
The brand has become a popular gift item, gaining in popularity. It is very difficult to maintain the quality of the fruit. Shimada keeps cultivation records for each tree to ensure thorough quality control.
He also is involved in distribution and sales as well so that he can monitor the best condition of the fruits until they are delivered to the customer.
The delicious taste is addictive. We definitely recommend you try the meltingly delicious sweet kiwi fruits at least once.
